FEARLESS kickboxer Barry Upton has overcome a particularly unpleasant injury to become a double national champion.

FEARLESS kickboxer Barry Upton has overcome a particularly unpleasant injury to become a double national champion.

Barry, 26, of Teign Bank Road, Hinckley won the Professional Kickboxing Association’s National Championships for the second year in a row after emerging victorious at the event in Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham.

And the achievement was all the more impressive considering Barry is still recovering from a nasty foot injury where his foot split open and his joints seized up.

He won four fights on the day, including one against clubmate Tom Perkins, to take the under 90kg title.

Barry said: “It is amazing. I’m still buzzing from it now. Last time I just hoped to turn up and do well but this time everyone was expecting me to win it, so it felt very different.

“I had a really bad foot injury which slowed down my training and fighting. But when I saw the Nationals coming up I trained really hard for it.

“I was out for two-and-a-half months with the foot injury and it still causes me trouble now. But it was worth it for the win!”

Barry trains at the PKA Club in Nuneaton and is also currently the West Midland Regional Champion

He first featured in the pages of the Times last year when he won his first title, and at that stage, he had only been kickboxing for two years.